From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Two drug dealers have been arrested by agents of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), with a total of 24.450 kg of assorted substances meant to be delivered to Gwada, in Shiroro, Niger State, where bandits in neighbouring forest buy their illicit drugs. Gwada has one of the two functional markets bordering a forest where bandits and kidnappers use as cover in the state.
Drugs seized from the two suspects – Martins Okwor Ejiofor, 31, and Bala Mohammed 33 – are said to include Codeine – 7.100 kg, Diazepam – 6.400 kg and Exol 5 – 10.950 kg.
The Kwara State NDLEA Command’s Highway Patrol Team along the Okolowo-Jebba highway had intercepted the consignment in a Hiace bus belonging to the Niger State Transport Authority on Saturday, June 5.
According to the Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Martins Ejiofor had travelled to Lagos with the second suspect to procure the drugs and deliver them to dealers in Gwada. During interrogation, he confessed that he had been arrested with over 50 kilogrammes of Cannabis Sativa and charged to court by the NDLEA Niger Command in 2020.
In a statement on Wednesday, Babafemi disclosed that Ejiofor completed his one-year jail term in March this year and resumed his illicit drug trafficking business.
Meanwhile, one other suspect, Usman Abbas, 38, was arrested with 6.8 kg of Cannabis Sativa concealed in a sack containing used clothes, which the suspect bought at Alaba International Market in Lagos. The suspect upon interrogation claimed that a man identified as “Baba” had given him the exhibit to deliver to one Lawali in Daura, Katsina State, before his arrest by a team of the Command’s agents attached to Jebba Area Command during a routine stop and search operation. The suspect confessed that he had transported Cannabis Sativa once to Katsina and that the latest trip was his second.
The previous day, on Friday, June 4, NDLEA agents of the Delta State Command arrested 20-year-old salesman Chukwujeku Lucky at Ogwashi Uku with multiple drugs weighing 38.90 kg. Some of the drugs seized from his apartment include 68 blocks of Cannabis Sativa weighing 38.7 kg; 498 pinches of cocaine (50.9 grammes); 33 pinches of heroin (4.4 grammes); 304 capsules of Tramadol (91 grammes); 72 tablets of Swinol (27 grammes), and 26 grammes of Methamphetamine.
While commending the commanders, officers and men of both Kwara and Delta state Commands for the arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Brig-Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd) said the development would help reduce the availability of illicit substances available to bandits and other criminals who take them as enhancers. He charged the agents to stay vigilant and continue to acquaint themselves with the latest disingenuous modes of concealment and transportation of illicit drugs by defiant traffickers.